1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for determining a root cause of a problem in a multi-element system.
2. Description of Related Art
When a problem arises in a large system comprising a large number of elements, a multiplicity of indicators can be triggered. Such indicators can have been tripped by, for example, sensors downstream of an actual, root cause of the problem, thereby potentially masking the real problem.
An exemplary, non-limiting example comprises a large, automated naval ship. Particularly in a situation in which staffing has been reduced, it is important to provide an automated process for determining a root cause of an indicated problem in the ship. Other examples, also not intended as limitations, could comprise multi-element electronic systems, nuclear power plants, water treatment plants, power distribution systems, etc.
As a set of symptoms may indicate more than one potential root cause, an analysis preferably should establish all known causal relationships between these potential root causes and the problem. Many techniques are known in the art to perform root-cause analysis. For example, Bayesian a priori probabilities have been used to help predict a failed part. Other techniques are known that look for abnormalities in system operations, and that use expert systems to search through failure symptoms and explicit cause-and-effect relationships. Still other techniques use dependencies in the way the system is constructed, and pose queries to earlier systems in a chain of connected systems to determine whether they are still operating.
It would be beneficial to provide a root-cause analysis system that can integrate a plurality of disparate systems and determine from data received therefrom one or more root causes of a problem.